From Gingersnaps to Starbursts
by Miss I-Like-Too-Many-Fandoms
Summary: My submissions for Creampuff Week. There are two entries for "Giants and Elves," one, like my entry for "Picnic" is a Harry Potter crossover. Feel free to skip those chapters for the more canonically filled prompts.
1. Hot Chocolate and Gingerbread

**Carmilla does not belong to me.**

There was an absurd amount of noise emanating from room 307, mainly the sound of wood on wood and muffled yelling. Carmilla awoke in the middle of the din, finding her tiny human roommate rushing around slamming things and yelling to the air. She had never seen the girl so distressed. Her hair was a mess, she was not even wearing a shirt (not that Carmilla minded), and there was a look in her eye that even terrified the vampire.

"Cupcake, what are you doing?" Carmilla stretched as she sat up in bed, still watching Laura frantically dart around the room. When it became clear that she was not going to receive an answer, the vampire sighed and slid off of the bed, lazily walking forward and wrapping an arm around her roommate as she rocketed by.

"Carm! Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me what all this insanity is about." They stared at each other for several moments before Laura sighed, slumping in her girlfriend's arms. She had tucked her head into Carmilla's neck and even with her superior hearing, the vampire found it difficult to understand Laura's whispered response. "What?"

"We're out of hot chocolate. And cookies." Carmilla bit back a laugh at how defeated the sugar-holic sounded.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"It's just that class was really awful today and then all of the food in the cafeteria was rotten, which I should tell LaFontaine about because the administration clearly isn't implementing all of their reforms, but yeah I have three papers to write which aren't hard but still and then Danny was glaring at me all through class and everyone hates me now because of that even though I helped save the school and there were these dumb Zetas playing some stupid game in the quad that involved balloons full of some sort of weird smelling gunk, I swear they've teamed up with the Alchemy Club, and I got hit with one and I barely escaped the guy trying to help me clean it off because 'that was really un-bro-like of me and I'm really sorry school savior hottie and I have to totally help out of the bro-ness of my heart' and I just really wanted a cookie and some hot chocolate!" The tears welling in Laura's eyes were what kept Carmilla from bursting into hysterics. The vampire took a deep breath, already regretting what she was going to say.

"We can go to the store and get you some hot chocolate and cookies."

"Carm, there's a blizzard going on outside."

"What?" Carmilla released Laura, earning a glare at the back of her head, and walked over to the window. She pulled apart the curtains and found that it was indeed snowing very heavily outside. Even her eyes had difficulty picking out the individual flakes. There was essentially a wall of white on the other side of the window. "Oh. Well." Laura sighed, dropping on to Carmilla's bed. The vampire returned to the center of the room, looking down at her prone roommate for a moment. "We can still go."

"Blizzard, Carm. Blizzard. We can't go anywhere. Not even the Zetas are out."

"Vampire, remember, cupcake?"

"So?"

"Come here." Carmilla spoke after a few moments, rolling her eyes and sighing heavily first. Laura slid off of the bed slowly, eyeing her girlfriend in part suspicion and part confusion. As soon as she was near enough, Carmilla grabbed Laura around the waist and hauled her close. Before Laura could stutter out a question, they vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What the hell, Carm?!" As soon as she regained her bearings, Laura jerked away, glaring at the smirking vampire.

"Do you want cookies or not?" Carmilla arched a brow before turning and throwing the supermarket door wide, strolling inside. Laura stomped after her, preferring not to freeze to death.

"You can't just," she reached for a word, her face reddening the longer it took, "teleport us places!"

"Why not?" Carmilla drawled as she turned sharply down an aisle, nearly sending Laura sliding into a display as she attempted to change direction as quickly as the vampire.

"Just because!"

"Great reasoning there, buttercup. You should write an essay." Carmilla smirked as Laura could only respond by way of some sort of strange noise and rapid arm movements.

"You are the worst!" They had reached the cookie section by the time Laura finally became coherent enough to speak. Carmilla whirled on her in mock offense.

"I teleported you in a snowstorm to the store to buy you cookies and hot chocolate and I'm the worst?"

"Yes." The venom had left her voice, Laura's expression becoming sheepish. She shyly took Carmilla's hand, surprised when she found the vampire squeezing her fingers.

"Whatever you say, cupcake." They smiled at each other for a moment before Carmilla turned away, dragging her girlfriend closer to the cookies she wanted so much. Her steps faltered however, making Laura trip behind her. "You're kidding me." An entire section of shelves had been picked clean.

"There aren't any cookies?! How?"

"There have to be cookies somewhere. We'll keep looking."

"If there aren't any cookies in the cookie aisle, there aren't going to be any cookies anywhere else." Laura had dropped Carmilla's hand to rub both of her hands down her face. Carmilla had drifted closer to the shelves, hitting her head against the shelf at eye-level a few times. When Laura's hands left her face, her roommate had vanished, souring her already miserable mood. She stomped down the aisle, heading toward the exit, tears stinging her eyes. She was so mad at herself for wanting to cry, which only gave more weight to the tears waiting to fall. Just as she was about to push open the door, already feeling the chill through the glass, she heard a shout from behind her.

"Imbecile!" Carmilla dropped a terrified teenage boy who she had been holding by the collar of his uniform. He scrambled away when the vampire turned as Laura ran at her.

"What are you doing? You can't just pick people up!"

"I was merely asking if there were any cookies." Carmilla seemed nonplussed by Laura's scolding. She smiled as the human sighed.

"Are there any?"

"No. Hence the grabbing."

"It's not his fault there aren't any cookies." Laura was secretly touched, the tiniest bit, that her girlfriend was so invested in making her happy. She had to at least act somewhat appalled at her behavior though.

"He was annoying."

"I've been complaining about not having cookies and hot chocolate and you haven't picked me up because I've been being annoying." Laura's grin of victory fell as a smirk spread across the vampire's features. Before she could properly process that she had just challenged her girlfriend, Laura found herself slung over Carmilla's shoulder and shelves moving past rapidly. "Carm! Put me down! You're going to get us kicked out of the store!" A laugh bubbled out of her despite her words.

"We're the only ones here. We're not going to get kicked out."

"Oh, right, because you traumatized the only employee." Laura resigned herself to her new position, giving up on trying to wriggle out of her girlfriend's grasp. Her eyes lazily scanned the shelves they passed. She screeched just as they were about to exit an aisle, her eyes wide. "CARM STOP!" The vampire skid to a stop, immediately placing the girl on the ground, her eyes roving her form in worry.

"What? Did I hurt you? Are you alright?"

"I found ginger snaps!" Laura rushed past the concerned vampire to yank a solitary box off of the shelves. Carmilla had still not recovered from her shock at the entire exchange when Laura returned to her, beaming and presenting her box of cookies. At Laura's snap, she jerked from her daze.

"Ginger snaps? Are you serious?"

"What? They're cookies."

"One, they're disgusting. Two, how can you think to eat those after our last encounter with gingerbread." Carmilla was eyeing the nondescript green box with contempt and a bit of horror.

"These aren't shaped like people and ginger snaps aren't real gingerbread." Laura cringed at Carmilla's arched brow.

"So what are they then if they're not 'real' gingerbread?"

"I don't know! They're just different alright!" Laura clutched the box to her chest, that frantic look from earlier creeping back into her features. With a sigh, Carmilla let the matter drop and took her roommate's hand, leading her in search of hot chocolate.

"Of course they don't have your brand." Carmilla ran her hand backwards through her hair agitatedly while Laura hung back behind her, eyes glued to the ground while she hugged her box of cookies. When Carmilla saw this, she silently berated herself and quickly scanned the shelves, desperate to rectify the mess she had made. After a few moments, she plucked a few boxes and single packets from the shelves with a grin. "Well then we'll just have to try and find you a new favorite then. Look, they even have gingerbread flavor." Though disgusted, Carmilla knew it was all worth it when Laura smiled. They tangled their fingers together and eventually tracked down the poor boy Carmilla had manhandled, Laura managing to sweet talk him into checking them out. They quickly forgot about him though and missed him fainting dead away at his station as they vanished into smoke.

"Thank you, Carm." They had settled onto the vampire's bed, the yellow pillow propped up behind them while they watched _Doctor Who_, gingersnaps and hot chocolate in hand.

"I'd say anytime, cupcake, but I wouldn't really mean it." Carmilla squeezed Laura despite her words, leaning down in an attempt to take a bite of the cookie in her hand. She found her girlfriend's lips instead, smiling into the kiss.

Carmilla supposed that there were worse things than gingersnaps, like Laura stroking out from sugar withdrawal.


	2. Welcome to the 21st Century

"Happy birthday, Carm!" Laura landed in the vampire's lap, a box in hand. She was smiling but Carmilla could detect the nerves beneath the expression.

"Not even going to let the birthday girl get up first?" Her hands settled on Laura's thighs, thumbs stroking towards her hips. She smirked at the way the smaller girl's breath hitched. Her gaze lingered on Laura's chest, but eventually Carmilla's gaze landed on the small, flat box in her girlfriend's hands. It was poorly wrapped in some silly Doctor Who paper, a tiny bow in the corner. It was atrocious looking but it was just so Laura that it made the vampire's heart ache. She smiled at the girl in her lap, her hands inching higher. "And here I thought you were my present." Her smile widened at Laura's blush.

"You get both."

"Oh, really? How generous."

"I think you'll like this better."

"I highly doubt that, cupcake." She squeezed Laura's legs, earning a small squeak, before taking the offered gift. She opened it as carefully as possible, not wanting to destroy Laura's handiwork. Unbeknownst to her roommate, Carmilla kept nearly everything Laura gave her in her duffle bag, from notes to even wrapping paper. Once the TARDIS covered paper had been set aside gently, much to Laura's amusement, Carmilla opened the small black box. "Is it bigger on the inside?" Her joke earned the vampire a surprised gasp and quick kiss, Laura grinning as she moved back to watch her girlfriend open her present.

Carmilla's hand met something cool and slick, her brow furrowing at the odd texture and weight in her hand. She slid the strange object from the box hesitantly, her brow crinkling further once the item was fully revealed. Laura was waiting with bated breath, biting her lip. The vampire glanced up, her features fraught with confusion.

"What the hell is this, creampuff?" The words escaped before she could formulate a question more suitable for her significant other, but to Carmilla's surprise, Laura laughed.

"It's an e-reader."

"A what?"

"It's to read books on. You know how I read fanfiction online? You can read books digitally. I already charged it up and downloaded some of your favorite books. Here, let me show you." She took the tablet from Carmilla and pressed a button to the side, the screen lighting up. She tapped a few times and handed it back with a smile. The screen was white and now held the title page for _Beyond Good and Evil_. The vampire stared at the device for several moments before tentatively reaching out a finger and tapping it as Laura had done. Nothing happened. She tapped it again, her face twisted in confusion and frustration. A third elicited a giggle from Laura. "You have to swipe it." Upon receiving a blank look, Laura reached over and demonstrated, Carmilla jumping in shock as the page changed. Laura laughed again. The vampire glared at her for a moment before swiping at the screen. The clear pleasure on her face at her success sent Laura giggling again.

"Do you like it?" Carmilla looked up. Laura's smile had faded and she was no longer watching her play with the e-reader, nervousness etched into her features.

"Of course I do. Thank you, Laura." The smaller girl perked up immediately, grinning brilliantly. She snatched the box that had been set aside and upended it, a small card falling out of it.

"I'm so glad you like it! I got you a gift card too. So you can buy more books to read on there. There are a lot of free ones too."

Carmilla took the bright red card with a smile, leaning forward to press a kiss to Laura's cheek. Her lips lingered for longer than necessary, tracking across her girlfriend's cheekbone then back again and down her jaw. She set the card and e-reader to the side, her hands returning to Laura's thighs. She pressed forward, easing her roommate on to her back, settling between her legs. She trailed more kisses down Laura's throat, nudging aside the collar of her shirt with her nose. Laura's fingers skimmed beneath Carmilla's top, moving to scrape down her back as the vampire's kisses moved lower and became more forceful.

"Can I unwrap my other present now?" Carmilla looked up from between Laura's legs, pupils blown and fangs resting over her lips.

"Y-yes." Laura's breathy response earned her another ruined button-up but she did not have the mind to complain. She was beginning to think it was her birthday.

When Carmilla awoke, Laura nestled into her side, she reluctantly grabbed the abandoned tablet, turning it over in her hands. She would have much preferred to be running her fingers over the smooth skin pressed against her but it was clear that Laura had put quite a lot of thought and money into her gift and Carmilla was loath to hurt the girl in anyway. So she fumbled with it for several minutes, attempting to turn the damn thing on. When she finally rediscovered the button to the side, she suppressed a shout of joy.

After several more minutes of exploration and frustrated tapping, Carmilla managed to load up _The Metaphysics of Morals_. Laura had downloaded the work in German, which made the vampire smile. She did not, however, enjoy the way the light from the tablet shone on Laura. It made her look ill. She turned as well as she could so the light was off of her sleeping love. Pleased with the new position, she began to read but quickly became annoyed with the strange device. She abandoned reading and started to explore the e-reader again, scrolling through the small library Laura had begun. To her amusement and disdain, the fellow bookworm had loaded up a few of her own favorites, including all seven _Harry Potter _books and a few other books, which based on the titles, Carmilla assumed were also young adult books. Her finger hovered over one of the titles and with a quick glance behind her at her sleeping girlfriend, she tapped it.

"Carm?" Laura's eyes widened as she found herself facing the universal signal for "one moment, please." She sleepily watched her girlfriend's eyes rapidly scanning the screen before her. With a final swipe, Carmilla turned.

"Yes?"

"Did you sleep at all?"

"I did." Carmilla waited a second before returning her gaze to her e-reader. Laura rolled her eyes. She was already beginning to regret buying the thing.

"What are you reading?" She attempted to look over the vampire's shoulder but Carmilla quickly bookmarked and closed the page before turning the whole thing off. "You were reading one of my books. Weren't you?"

"What? About some dumb girl who dies for no reason? I don't think so." Laura's eyes lit up. "Shit." Laura laughed as the vampire sighed.

"Ha!" The smaller girl's eyes roved the bed and found the gift card peeking out from beneath the pillow. Even with half of it covered, Laura could see that the back had been scratched away. "Oh my god."

"Cupcake, please don't."

"You didn't just read my books! You bought the set! Oh my god."

"You are never to tell anyone of this."

"I can't believe you read _Divergent _and liked it."

"The second one was better." Carmilla's reluctant grumble only had Laura smiling more. "The third one was horrid."

"I don't know. I liked parts of it."

"The constant changing of point of view was bothersome and I don't think I've ever read a worse ending to a story. She should have stopped after the second one."

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"Oh, no."

"We have to watch the movies. We can go see the last one together!" Laura squealed and jumped up, running over to dig through her DVDs while Carmilla plopped back down on to the pillows, groaning.

Truth be told, Carmilla did not really like the damn thing all that much. She could appreciate the convenience of it, of having hundreds of books at one's fingertips, but it was cold and impersonal. It was nothing like reading a book. It was too bright even on its lowest setting and she missed the yellowed pages she loved so much, the feel of paper between her fingers, the smell of old ink. She even missed, childishly, the sound of a page turning, that wonderful noise as old paper crinkled and slid against its fellow pages.

She continued to use it for Laura's sake though, reading her silly young adult novels and some of the works that Carmilla no longer had in her possession. She even downloaded some of the Doctor Who "extended universe," whatever that means, books for them to read together. That was one thing Carmilla did enjoy, being able to read with Laura on her chest and the tablet above them. It was strangely intimate. Carmilla also had to admit that being able to read anywhere and in any light was pretty neat.

"What the hell, Xena? Butterfingers much?" Her distaste, however, did not keep her from becoming extraordinarily angry when Danny cracked the screen.

She liked it even better when she discovered Laura's hidden file of erotic fanfiction.


	3. Ocean

"Bro-cean? Seriously, creampuff?"

"It's the Zetas. They're not the brightest but it would really mean a lot to Kirsch if we went. It's a pool party!"

"Though I'd hate to hurt the big puppy," Carmilla did not sound the least bit sincere, "I think I'll pass."

"C'mon! It'll be fun." Laura had climbed into the vampire's lap with the "Bro-cean Under the Sea Party" flyer when she entered the room. She wrapped her arms around Carmilla's neck, giving her most winning smile.

"A bunch of drunk co-eds falling into a swimming pool does not fall under my definition of 'fun.''

"I'll be wearing a skimpy swimsuit." Laura smirked at the way her girlfriend's eyes lit up, a devilish grin spreading across the vampire's features.

"You actually own a skimpy swimsuit? I'm impressed, cupcake." Carmilla ran her fingers from Laura's knees to her upper thighs, sending a shiver down the smaller girl's spine.

"What were you expecting?" Carmilla did not need to know that Laura had purchased the scant bikini the day before for the party and with the sole purpose of torturing her girlfriend at said party.

"Definitely pegged you as a one-piece kind of girl. Or a tankini. Please tell me it's not a tankini. Those are not scandalous." The brunette chuckled at her own joke, earning a shove from the girl in her lap.

"It's not a tankini you jerk." Laura's old swimsuit had definitely been a tankini. "So, you'll come?"

"As tempting as the promise of your skimpy swimsuit is, pool parties are just not my thing, cupcake. We could get you some water wings and have our own party though." She flashed her fangs, her fingers edging up Laura's top. Receiving only a blush and a glare, she shrugged and dropped back against the yellow pillow, reaching behind Laura to drag the book that had been displaced earlier back to her face. Laura huffed and shoved off the vampire, stomping over to throw herself face down on to her bed. Carmilla was unbothered, flicking through her book, until she heard sniffles across the room. She sighed, her copy of the _Divine Comedy _falling on to her face. "Cupcake, don't be like that. It's just a party."

"Yeah, I get it. You've been to thousands of parties and they're not that interesting and you don't want to bother 'associating yourself with the mortals' or whatever but for once, I'd like to have a nice night with my girlfriend outside of this room." Laura had rolled over, her eyes red as she glowered.

"It's not that. I just…can't, alright?"

"Oh, have other plans?" The way Laura sneered sent a sharp jolt of pain to the vampire's chest.

"No. I…I just don't want to go, okay?" Carmilla hated the way the words left her tongue.

"Whatever." Laura jumped up and snatched her bag, stomping as she left the room, the door slamming behind her.

The vampire was thoroughly angry with herself, not having it in her to actually blame Laura, but she could not bear the thought of going to the damn party. She gave up on her book, hastily putting it away before clutching Laura's-turn-her yellow pillow, staring at the door. Laura did not have class. She wondered where she was going. Maybe she had finally pushed her far enough and into the arms of Danny, who had no qualms about going to some dumb party, Zeta or not. Perry and LaFontaine stumbled in but quickly departed at the look on the vampire's face and the absence of Laura. Carmilla tortured herself while she waited for her roommate to return. Hundreds of scenarios played out in her head, none of them ending well. She did not dare dream of a positive outcome. She figured that Laura deserved to know. She hated that the girl thought that she did not want to spend time with her and her friends and though the latter was somewhat true (the ginger twins were growing on her), it was certainly not the reason for her aversion to this particular party.

She had talked herself into attending the disaster when Laura finally returned, her steps light and her face no longer crunched adorably into rage.

"Fine. I'll go to the party." Carmilla was shocked to find that the usually bubbly human did not squeal at her declaration, instead throwing her girlfriend a strange look.

"No."

"No?"

"Not like that."

"What are you talking about?" Carmilla had released the pillow, sitting up to stare at Laura in confusion. Laura approached, dropping on to the bed beside the vampire.

"I was being a brat."

"I'm the one refusing to go to some dumb party."

"And I threw a fit because you didn't want to go when something was clearly bothering you."

"Caught that, did you?" Carmilla gave a soft smile despite her words.

"I'm not completely oblivious."

"That could be debated."

"Why don't you want to go to the party?"

"Laura-"

"We're not going to go. I just want to know why." Laura took the vampire's hand, squeezing her fingers. Carmilla sighed. She had already decided to tell her an hour before and though she was eager to escape the party and this discussion, she could not ignore her girlfriend's earnest face.

"Well, there are a few reasons why so-"

"'Buckle up, creampuff' I know."

"Do you want to know, or not?" Carmilla's pained tone quickly silenced Laura. "For starters, I don't know how to swim."

"What?"

"Swimming wasn't exactly top of the list for the lessons of a seventeenth century countess."

"But the Blade of Hastur! You had to be a pretty good swimmer to grab it. And you volunteered."

"That was mostly sinking on my part. I had no idea what I was doing aside from grabbing the sword."

"Then why'd you volunteer?" Understanding dawned at the look she received from the vampire. "Oh. Right. So, um, why else?"

"Well the whole seventy years stuck in a coffin full of blood definitely put a damper on the idea of swimming."

"Oh, my god, Carm. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry." Laura's eyes were wide, tears threatening to fall, one hand tight around her girlfriend's hand, the other hovering over a barely clothed shoulder.

"It's fine, cupcake. Not your fault."

"It was insensitive of me and I apologize."

"Fine. Apology accepted. Mind if I borrow that one? I'll probably need it." Her terrible joke earned her a light shove and a smile, which was a success in her book.

"So have you ever been swimming?"

"I'm assuming the coffin doesn't count, so no."

"I could teach you, you know. I'm a lifeguard. Certified and everything."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I mean obviously not at the party but whenever. You know, if you want."

"Sure, creampuff. Sometime." Carmilla smirked as Laura blushed and looked down at their clasped hands.

"I mean we're still not going to the party but I would never make you do anything you wouldn't want to, Carm. I wouldn't make you get in the pool and I wouldn't let any drunk Zetas toss you in the water, not that you'd really need my help. We could just stand around looking really hot in our swimsuits. Oh, you probably don't have swimsuit. That was probably another reason, wasn't it-"

"Laura. You can go to the party. I won't mind."

"Parties aren't really that interesting without you."

"I'd just stand around and glare menacingly at anyone so much as looking at you but I'll go with you if you want."

"We're not going." Laura had looked up, her eyes bright but she shook her head.

"Laura, if you want to go, we'll go."

"You just told me all the reasons why you don't want to go to the party. We're not going." She hops up, reluctantly releasing Carmilla's hand as she rushes over to her bag. She rummages through it and returns to stand shyly in front of the vampire. "Besides, I already bought these." The brunette had been preparing an elaborate argument with which to convince Laura that they were going to the damn party but the words evaporated as Laura brought her hands out from behind her back, revealing two packages of bright yellow water wings. "After I stormed out, which I'm still not proud of, I thought about what you said and I'd much rather stay in here. I know you said the water wings were for me but I couldn't resist. And since you probably don't have a swimsuit…" She flashed what she hoped was a seductive grin but it ended up being much dorkier than intended.

"Are you telling me you want to stay in here and wear your swimsuit and those water wings?"

"Yes." Laura's cheeks flamed as Carmilla stood, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling the smaller girl close. The vampire bit her lip, eyeing her girlfriend up and down, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"I don't need a swimsuit, sweetheart." She plucked a package of water wings out of Laura's hand. "Put on your swimsuit and those ridiculous wings and meet me in the bathroom." Laura was terribly confused until Carmilla walked away, shedding her shirt before she reached the bathroom. It all finally clicked into place as she watched the vampire unsnap her bra before closing the door behind her with her foot. Laura stared at the door, her jaw slack for several moments. The sound of the shower running finally spurred her to action. She stripped quickly and threw on her new bikini, nearly slipping as she dashed to the bathroom, one water wing on and the other between her teeth as she inflated it.

Carmilla was not a fan of pool parties but she loved shower sex. Laura just hoped that the next time she worked the pool back home that she would not get ridiculously turned on at the sight of water wings. Only her stupid sexy vampire girlfriend could make the ridiculous fluorescent inflatables attractive.


	4. Blame it on the Alcohol and Waltzing

"Hello, everyone! I know I haven't uploaded in a while but that's good, right? Nothing too crazy has been going on surprisingly. Of course I say that and here I am!" Laura laughed a bit self-consciously, throwing one arm wide. She was in her usual recording position, sitting in her chair in front of her webcam. She was holding a rather large icepack to the side of her head, Carmilla sitting on the edge of her bed behind her, looking on in part amusement and part concern. "So, we're here to talk about the winter well I guess I should say spring formal that our lovely floor don, Perry, finally put together. Perry and LaFontaine are alright by the way. They're nursing their own wounds from the night but more of that later." She adjusted her icepack. "It started out great, nice decorations, delicious food, which is unsurprising given Perry's stellar cooking skills, and everyone looked beautiful."

"I think you mean atrocious, buttercup."

"Oh, shut up you'll get to talk in a minute." The vampire rolled her eyes but allowed her roommate to continue. "I was a little worried about the whole 'ballroom' theme at first but it turned out pretty well. Carmilla taught everyone how to waltz once she finally dragged herself off of the wall."

"I wasn't teaching anyone. _We _were waltzing." Another glare.

"Then the Zetas showed up with drinks and it wasn't that bad. Even the Summer Society sisters were alright with it. I was expecting an outright brawl with the usual herring, tridents, and long staves but when Kirsch and Danny started dancing, everything went smoothly. At least, for a little bit. This is actually where we get to the point of this video. Apparently, the Zetas had teamed up with the Alchemy Club for a little revenge for some dumb prank the Summer Society pulled last week and well, we all know that when the Alchemy Club contributes party items, weird stuff happens and there was something in the drinks. And if you're watching this video, you probably were luckily safe at home or in your dorm or you're like me and you have no idea what happened last night. So, Carmilla's here to recap all of us in her first official guest appearance!" Carmilla dragged up Laura's stool and straddled it.

"You've only been filming me for nearly a year."

"Shhhh! Just start the story!" Laura relaxed in her chair and lowered her icepack, but winced after a moment and immediately returned the pack to her head. The display softened Carmilla's gaze and the vampire reached over to tangle her fingers with Laura's free hand.

"So, while you idiots-"

"Carm!"

"So while you wonderful," the word dripped with sarcasm, "viewers took the first few sips of your strangely glowing drinks, the miscreants from the Alchemy Club swarmed the room and began devouring the snacks Perry had made me help her make. Do you know how hard it is to convince self-igniting sentient coal to light? Those freaks had it coming. While I chased them off, the rest of you kept drinking, oblivious to everything going on around you. When I returned to Laura here, I found her and the rest of our friends determined to play some sort of silly game that involved the floor being lava. Laura and the Ginger Giant and climbed up on to one of the tables and were attempting to jump on to another table. Of course, the she-hulk made it while Laura smacked her head on the edge of the table. So, Laura's bleeding and laughing and begging for another of those blasted drinks and then there's a quake. Not one of those residual tremors from months ago, no. An explosion. And since I'm the only one around with any sort of sense, I take a page out of Detective Dork's book and investigate."

Laura is leaning forward in her seat, icepack forgotten. Carmilla is just glad that she has not decided to bust out the sock puppets.

"The Zeta fools had somehow managed to blow up part of the Summer Society house in their attempts to cover it with toilet paper. They were babbling something about the water heater in the basement."

"Wait. What?"

"I had the same reaction, cupcake. After beating, I mean gently extracting information from one of the Alchemy creeps crawling around and their bro-scort, I was told that all of this utter nonsense was carried out to get back at the Summer Society. The drinks were meant to be a distraction so the Amazons would not brutally murder the bros while they carried out their prank."

"But why the Alchemy Club?"

"They were bored and needed access to the Summer Society house for some weird water testing experiment or something I don't know. Anyway, once I scared the idiots away and rescued some bro from the rapidly flooding basement, I ran around the ballroom keeping the rest of you fools from dying in your drunken state."

"Well, uh, there you have it folks. That is why it is currently unsafe to leave your dorm. The Zetas and Summer sisters have turned campus into a warzone over a couple of pranks. Hopefully it'll all die down soon."

"Half of the sisters have been delegated to construction duty. It's kind of impressive that the battle has been going on this long." Carmilla's expression had turned thoughtful but she quickly wiped the look off of her face, remembering that she was on camera and that Danny would probably see.

"Thanks for the recap, Carm. Stay safe everyone!" Laura shut off the camera and tapped at her keyboard, editing the video a bit. While she worked, Carmilla climbed on to the chair behind her, picking Laura up and settling her in her lap. With one arm around her waist, Carmilla kept the icepack that Laura refused to keep up with against her head, which was already developing a nasty bump. Used to the maneuver, Laura only squeaked at her sudden change in position, managing not to mess up her editing. Once she finished, she smiled as she watched part of the video. "You know, for someone who supposedly hates all of this so much, you're pretty good."

"Because talking to an inanimate object is so hard." Laura elbowed her girlfriend before leaning back to rest her head on her chest.

"I meant the investigating."

"You and the Ginger Squad were down. Someone had to do something. And I'd hardly call it investigating. I went outside."

"You interrogated people."

"I glared at the Alchemy Club kid and he spilled all his secrets."

"Admit it, you enjoyed it. I could tell when you told the story."

"Oh, yes. I love not only rescuing my drunk girlfriend from her own stupidity but everyone else too."

"I'd hardly call it rescuing. I still hit my head."

"I told you I was done with this heroic vampire crap."

"And yet you kept the campus safe."

"Buttercup, there is an actual _war_ going on outside right now, in case you forgot. How hard did you hit your head?" Laura batted away Carmilla's probing fingers.

"Just let me admire you for a bit, alright?"

"Oh, please do that for as long as you'd like."

"You're insufferable." Carmilla shrugged, playing with Laura's hair. The smaller girl yawned, stretching in the vampire's arms. "I think it's time for bed."

"Oh, no. You're not going to sleep. You could have a concussion."

"I do not have a concussion."

"How would you know?" Carmilla smirked in victory as Laura groaned, taking the girl's phone to summon LaFontaine. The biology major appeared quickly, only a bit banged up herself.

"Oh, no! We forgot to include them in our segment."

"No, big deal, Hollis. Perry's asleep anyway." LaFontaine asked Laura a few questions, poking and prodding at her head before declaring that she probably did not have a concussion. It was not the most comforting assessment ever given, but it calmed Carmilla enough to allow her girlfriend to sleep.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. The vampire jolted awake, scowling over Laura's head at the computer. When the irritating noise continued, Carmilla groaned and slid off the bed, careful to not disturb her roommate from her sleep, settling the smaller girl on to her yellow pillow gently and with a kiss on the forehead. Carmilla had planned to shut the damn thing off but the glowing comments beneath their video caught her eye. She smirked, enjoying the incessant notifications for a moment before turning the volume off.

_1,000 hits_

**Silasisscary **_**2 minutes ago**_**: **_Great job, Carmilla! You should help with the recaps more often!_

**ZetaBro27 **_**5 minutes ago**_**:** _Thanks for saving my bacon, scary hottie!_

**EveryoneHatesTheatreStudents** _**17 minutes ago**_**: **_Thanks for watching out for all of us, Carmilla! You're the best!_

**Hollstein5ever **_**1 hour ago**_**: **_So have you guys done the do yet? There was sooooo much sexual tension in that vid. _

**JustCurious **_**1 hour ago**_**: **_So, Carmilla, can vampires not get drunk? _

**BioFreak1 **_**2 hours ago**_**: **_Hey, Laura, you should do a Q&A with Carmilla and let all your viewers send in questions about her being a vampire and stuff._

**ZetaBro333 **_**3 hours ago**_**: **_Can vampires breathe underwater?_

**AlchemyIsCool **_**3 hours ago**_: _Gr8t job vampire. Not all of us freaks were for the prank. Thx for scaring them. _

**Crushesonvampires **_**4 hours ago: **__Carmilla should do her own videos! _

**SecretSummerPsycho **_**5 hours ago**_: _I'm so glad Carmilla did this video. I was really upset that we didn't get to hear about her grabbing the sword when everyone had to flee campus. _

Carmilla scrolled for a few more minutes before settling back into bed, Laura immediately snuggling up to her. Her eyes landed on the computer before she fell asleep, the hits rocketing up and more comments appearing. Maybe Laura was on to something. Investigating and making videos did not seem all that bad after all.


	5. Picnic (Harry Potter Crossover)

"A picnic by the lake, really, creampuff?" Carmilla and Laura were walking down the hill from the entrance to the castle, their fingers linked. A basket swung from the smaller girl's free hand.

"I'm sorry, it's not like there are a lot of great date-like locations on the grounds."

"Where did you even find a basket like that? Or did you pack it with the sole intention of taking me on a date?" The seventh year Slytherin smirked, squeezing Laura's fingers.

"Right because that's what I do over the summer holiday, plan dates to take you on. I'm pretty sure that's what you do. Stealing champagne and somehow managing to bribe Filch."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"LaFontaine told me you gave him some information on the prank a few of the Gryffindors were planning."

"Listening to rumors over your own girlfriend, cupcake? And it's impossible to bribe Filch."

"He likes you."

"That's disgusting." Laura rolled her eyes, bumping the vampire with her shoulder.

"You know that's not what I meant. You guys actually are weirdly similar."

"Wow. This is already the worst date ever. Comparing me to Filch? I think I might have to break up with you." Carmilla made no move to draw away, keeping her finger's laced with the Hufflepuff prefect.

"'But who would buy the cupcakes?'" They had reached the tree Laura had chosen nearly a week prior as "their" tree, the smaller girl mimicking her girlfriend as she set up their picnic, throwing a blanket down and unpacking her basket. Carmilla looked on, arms crossed as she leaned against the massive tree, the Black Lake lapping a few feet away.

"Very funny, cutie." The vampire rolled her eyes with a smile, pushing off of the tree to settle down on the blanket next to Laura. "Where did you get all of this?" She had been expecting sandwiches and maybe some cookies but the Hufflepuff had managed to obtain a whole spread from mashed potatoes to desserts. "You've been interviewing House Elves again, haven't you?" Laura blushed and shrugged, looking down as she scoops out the potatoes and passes the plate to her girlfriend.

"Living near the kitchens has its benefits."

"I'll say." Carmilla had already wolfed down the plate of mashed potatoes and was reaching for the dark jar Laura had left in the basket. "And who says McGonagall doesn't have a sense of humor." She spins the jar to show Laura the label. "Bumble's Bottled Blood, The Perfect Blend for the Growing Vampire. I wonder if it annoyed her that it says bottled and it's in a jar."

"The Headmistress buys your blood personally and all you can do is mock it." Laura laughed anyway. "'Growing Vampire?'"

"Half vampires, sweetheart." Carmilla jammed the metal straw Laura had packed (also a gift from the headmistress) into the jar and took a sip.

"What?"

"We can procreate, you know. With humans anyway." She took another draw on her drink, smirking around the straw at the way Laura blushed. "Getting ideas there, cupcake? I hate to tell you this but we don't exactly have the right equipment."

"Shut up." Laura threw a roll with a surprising amount of force, the baked good bouncing off of the vampire's chest and into the Black Lake.

"Laura! I'm going to have to go down to the kitchens and tell the elves that their queen wasted a perfectly good roll that they slaved over and then they'll never sneak you cookies ever again." Carmilla laughed as Laura pushed her, upsetting a few of their containers. "Wow. Violent. What'd those cookies ever do to you?" The vampire snatched up one of the displaced treats, grinning as she eats. Laura squashed down the urge to pelt her girlfriend with more food. She was not really mad, though. It was so rare that Carmilla was in such a good mood and Laura was determined to enjoy it, even if that meant a few jokes at her expense.

She smiled as she dug into her pudding. Carmilla had already scarfed down a second helping of mashed potatoes and was reaching for a third, eyebrow arched. Laura, with a mouthful of pudding, waved her hand and nodded. The vampire grinned and abandoned her plate to eat the rest of the potatoes from the self-warming container. Carmilla loved the mashed potatoes, much to Laura's endless amusement. They were the only food aside from practically any sweet that the vampire would eat.

"What?" Carmilla spoke around a huge bite of mashed potatoes, her cheeks full. The sight sent Laura into hysterics. It would appear that the countess' manners had devolved in the last three hundred years. The thought only made the Hufflepuff laugh harder. Laura had been caught staring but she was too amused to care. The vampire's confusion did little to help her calm down. "What? What is it? Is there something on my face? Did the Giant Squid finally grab someone?"

"That's not funny!" Laura could barely get the words out. She was laughing too hard.

"Did someone hit you with a Cheering Charm when I wasn't looking? Where are they? I'll curse them for you." The Slytherin already had their wand out, their eyes scanning the students milling around the lawn and lake. Laura managed to quell her mirth enough to speak up before the vampire managed to hex anyone.

"You'd have to curse yourself." She blushed as she shoveled the last of her pudding into her mouth in an attempt to keep herself from saying anything else embarrassing.

"What?"

"And you call me oblivious. You're cute."

"I am not cute. I am a terrifying creature of the night."

"Having probably the most cliché date ever. We're having a picnic. And it's the middle of the day."

"I'm still not cute."

"What's wrong with cute? You tell me I'm cute all the time."

"Because you are, cutie."

"And so are you, _cutie_."

"I'm drinking blood with our picnic."

"Blood in a jar marketed to vampire parents. Through a straw."

"McGonagall orchestrated all this, didn't she?"

"Yes. Her gra nd scheme to make you the most adorable vampire in the whole school."

"I didn't have to deal with this nonsense at Durmstrang."

"You went to Durmstrang?" Laura lowered her cookie.

"For a time, yes. They kicked me out."

"For being adorable? I'm sure that's against the rules there."

"For murder. Even Durmstrang can only handle so many of their students killing one another. Then a few decades later, Maman shipped me to her alma mater." Laura knew she should be more upset by her girlfriend's confession than she was.

"_You went to Beauxbatons?_"

"I actually preferred it. Prettier girls." She winked. Laura could not decide between stuttering and blushing and being angry. "But of course Hogwarts has grown on me. Picnics and all." Their fingers linked and rested on top of the basket.

They ate the rest of their meal in silence punctuated by giggles as they fed each other the endless desserts Laura had packed. After licking chocolate and cream from their fingers and draining another jar of Bumble's bottled best, the couple settled against the tree they had claimed as theirs, Laura resting in Carmilla's arms. The smaller girl was beginning to doze off with the surprisingly warm weight of her girlfriend's arms around her middle when she heard a splash followed by high-pitched screeching, her eyes flying open as she jerked in surprise.

Two merpeople had appeared at the edge of the lake, looking between each other and Carmilla. Laura looked up and found the vampire nodding, a slight smirk on her face. To the Hufflepuff's shock, her girlfriend responded as the merpeople stopped, mimicking their screeching. The trio carried on a conversation for quite sometime, the noise grating on Laura's nerves but she was much more irritated by the merpeople's behavior. Though she did not speak a word of Mermish, she knew that they were attempting to persuade her girlfriend to join them in the water by their constant eyelash fluttering and gestures. When the nearest of the two winked at Carmilla for the fourth time, Laura snapped and yanked the vampire's head down, slamming their lips together while she was mid-sentence. Though surprised, Carmilla quickly relaxed into the kiss, allowing Laura to turn and straddle her. The Hufflepuff made sure to deepen the kiss and push her girlfriend back against the tree to get her point across. When they finally broke apart, she was pleased to note that the merpeople had vanished.

"Wow, cupcake."

"Freaking mermaids." Laura leaned down to press a more gentle kiss to the vampire's lips, but Carmilla laughed in the middle of it.

"They were selkies, sweetheart and they hate vampires."

"They were trying to get you into the water with them!"

"Yeah, so they could string me up in their village and take turns stoning me."

"Oh." Carmilla laughed again but leaned forward to kiss Laura softly.

"I certainly appreciated the save though. I was growing bored of mocking them."

"Why'd they leave then?"

"They were probably disgusted by your show of affection." Laura smacked her. "Hey! I wasn't!" The vampire attempted to steal a kiss but was rebuffed. "Aw, Laura." She ran her hand down the smaller girl's arm, tangling their fingers together when she reached her hand. "I thought your date was pretty successful, selkies, clichés, and all." Laura looked up from where she had been staring at her lap.

"Really?"

"Of course."

"So I get to pick again next week?"

"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Carm, we cannot sneak up to the astronomy tower for every date." They continued their argument as they packed up and headed back to the castle, the sun dipping low on the Black Lake.

"You love it, creampuff."

"No, I love you. I like the stars."

"You love the firewhiskey."

"That might be true."

"What's that about firewhiskey, Miss Karnstein?" Headmistress McGonagall had appeared out of nowhere, as usual, while they were approaching the Great Hall.

"Oh, nothing, professor. Thanks for the blood." Carmilla's straw was hanging out of her mouth, her fangs fully visible. McGonagall eyes the two girls for a moment before giving a curt nod and vanishing into the Great Hall.

"I swear she smiled."

"Right, sure, buttercup. The staff just adores me."

"C'mon, you said you'd help me with my Astronomy homework." Laura groaned at the way her girlfriend's eyes lit up. "No. We don't need the tower." She took the Slytherin by the sleeve of her robes and dragged her off to the library.

They ended up sneaking into the tower anyway.


	6. Giants and Elves (The Harry Potter One)

"I thought," Laura gasped as Carmilla left what was probably going to be a particularly vibrant hickey on her neck, "we were supposed to be reading about the Second Great Giant War." Their books had been long forgotten behind them while they dangled their legs over the side of the astronomy tower. Carmilla had grown tired of their homework first, straddling Laura and tossing their books, a few of the texts sliding down the stairs. The vampire had the Hufflepuff prefect pinned down rather solidly by the hips, Laura's legs hanging off the side of the tower behind her. Despite her words, Laura had freed her girlfriend of her robes and was sliding one hand up her shirt while her other arm was tangled in the brunette's hair.

"Fought in 1350." Carmilla trailed her lips further down Laura's neck, nudging the collar of her shirt out of the way with her nose while she toyed with her robes. "The Black Death was ravaging Europe. Hardly anyone took note of what going on with the giants." A nip at Laura's pulse point.

"O-only a year? Hardly a war." Her fingers were bunched up in Carmilla's shirt, nails lightly scratching at the newly exposed skin.

"Giants have short memories. It only went as long as it did because they liked the killing." Laura knew that nothing about what they were talking about was in the least bit arousing, but the way Carmilla's hips were moving against hers definitely was.

"Oh." A particularly sharp thrust was more the cause of the response than the vampire's knowledge on the history of giants. "Who, "she swore Carmilla was trying to kill her, "who won?"

"No one wins a giant war, but wizards deemed Elwin the Elusive and his clan the victors." Carmilla peeled off Laura's robes and held her up for a moment while she spread their robes down behind her. It was still cold and hard through the thick wool robes but Laura could not find it within herself to care when her girlfriend shifted against her again, beginning to press her kisses lower.

"I'm probably prepared for the quiz now." She felt the vampire's smirk against her collarbone.

"Are you sure? We can study some more if you're worried."

"Are you serious?" Laura groaned when Carmilla's hand finally found its way up her shirt.

"What about the near House Elf extinction? It was happening around the same time and Professor Binns-"

"Way to kill the mood, Carm."

"-said he might include it on our quiz."

"You don't care about quizzes." Another nip.

"But you do."

"That would be really sweet if I wasn't beyond frustrated right now." Another smirk against her throat.

"Anything I can do about that?"

"You damn well know what."

"Ooh, creampuff. Cursing already? I don't even have your shirt off yet."

"I hate you."

"You won't be saying that in a few minutes." She definitely was not saying that when the vampire finally stopped messing around.

"We're going to be in so much trouble!"

"Relax, cupcake. You act like we haven't snuck into the tower before."

"It's 4 am, Carm!"

"And whose fault is that?"

"Definitely yours."

"Fair enough. It'll be fine. Aren't you buds with the other Hufflepuff prefect? They'll cover for you."

"I've never missed my rounds before."

"It'll be fine."

"Why aren't you more worried? Your prefects have it out for you."

"Vampire, remember? Easy enough to scare off."

"I can't believe you're so relaxed about this! We could get expelled!" Laura was shaking, which pulled Carmilla to a stop.

"Woah. Calm down. They're not going to expel two seventh years, a seventh year prefect nonetheless, for fooling around in the astronomy tower." The vampire placed her hands on the quivering girl's arms, stilling her. Laura took a breath.

"Was that a confession, vampire?" Filch ran out of a nearby classroom, Mrs. Norris in his arms.

"Dammit."

"I'm sure the Headmistress would love to see you both. Or perhaps your Head of House, vampire?" Carmilla grit her teeth.

"You're right, Argus. I would like to see them. I think I heard Peeves on the third floor. The paintings are all yelling about being in mortal peril." The caretaker gave a salute and ran off, hugging his precious cat to his chest.

"Evening, professor."

"Your wit will not serve you well in this case, Miss Karnstein."

"Can I take double detention or whatever you have planned? You're going to kill Laura." Carmilla's hand had dropped to hold the trembling one beside her.

"I don't even know what you should be punished for. What were you two up to?"

"Studying! We were studying in the astronomy tower." Carmilla and McGonagall jumped at the volume of Laura's voice. Once over her shock, the headmistress arched a brow.

"You two have been here long enough to know that the astronomy tower is off-limits outside of class. Wouldn't it make more sense to study in the library?"

"Carm likes to look at the stars." Carmilla cringed.

"Alright, cupcake. That's enough. Take us to our doom, professor."

"Why so eager for punishment, Miss Karnstein?"

"I'm tired. It's nearly dawn, you know." Laura elbowed the vampire as they followed the tartan clad professor down the hall.

"What were you two studying?" Carmilla bit back a retort of "each other."

"History of Magic. We have a quiz tomorrow…well…today."

"Laura! There you are! I've been worried sick!" A flash of ginger appeared at the foot of the stairs. Carmilla caught sight of her prefect badge before her face. McGonagall stepped forward before Laura could be tackled.

"Miss Perry, yes, Laura has been found. Along with Carmilla, now, please head to bed. Your help is no longer needed." Perry shrunk beneath the headmistress' gaze, turning to leave. "Five points to Hufflepuff for your concern and thoughtful action." The prefect beamed before bustling off. The remaining trio made their way down the stairs, stopping before the doors to the Great Hall. "I believe this is where we must part." Laura and Carmilla exchanged startled looks. "Off to bed. Good luck on your quiz."

"Uh, thank you, professor."

"Yes! Thank you, professor!" Laura and Carmilla stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, used to exchanged good night kisses before departing. With a quick glance toward the headmistress, they each gave a quick wave and turned in the directions of their respective dormitories, walking away quickly. Before the two were out of earshot, McGonagall called out.

"Detention will be served after Gryffindor plays Slytherin for the House Cup." She smiled at the dual groans.

Laura could not stop squirming during the quiz, remembering every touch from the night before in association to the various questions that were starting to blur together. She glared daggers at the back of Carmilla's head but was pleased to find she was also having issues staying still in her seat. They both aced the quiz but when the vampire jokingly suggested that they should study for every test like they had, Laura glared and cast a temporary tongue-tying jinx.


	7. Giants and Elves (Not Harry Potter)

Her last lecture had, as expected, been abysmally boring and redundant but had let out early, allowing Carmilla to pick up a few things before she was expected back in room 307. She strode down the hall, a six-pack of grape soda, a package of cookies, and a large cheese pizza in hand, her pace quickening embarrassingly as she neared the room she shared with the tiny girl who had stolen her heart. Carmilla ended her disgustingly sappy train of thought with _no, a heart freely given_ and attempted to enter the room looking as disaffected as possible, despite her being eager to see her girlfriend's reaction to her treats. It appeared, however, that a party was already in full swing.

"Forgot to tell me something, cutie?" The vampire looked on in contempt and poorly veiled confusion. The "Dimwit Squad" as Carmilla liked to refer to them was assembled, sitting in the space between the beds, pieces of paper in front of each of them while LaFontaine flipped hurriedly through a thick, shiny book. A few other books were stacked behind them.

"Oh, uh, hi, Carm!" Laura's nervous greeting sent Carmilla's eyebrow on a journey to her hairline. LaFontaine turned to throw a greeting over their shoulder but their eyes lit up at the box in the vampire's arms.

"Oh, sweet! Pizza!" They jumped up and reached for the pizza, only to be stopped by Carmilla's glare. "Or. Um. Yeah. Nice vampire."

"Relax, dead girl." Carmilla's mood plummeted immediately. With a particularly vicious glare toward, Danny, she shoved the box of pizza into the biology major's arms before quickly ridding herself of the other items she had purchased, the soda in the fridge with a slam and the cookies dropped into Laura's lap as she threw herself on to her bed. Laura winced as her favorite treat landed on her legs, but not from the pain. She just seemed to always make plans when Carmilla decided to surprise her.

"What are you idiots up to? Intense study party?"

"Dungeons and Dragons." Perry chirped helpfully, moving over to allow LaFontaine to return to their place beside her, pizza box in hand, a piece dangling from their mouth.

"You can't be serious. Buttercup, she's kidding, right?" Carmilla sighed as Laura ducked her head. Everyone shuffled their papers and nibbled on pizza, refusing to look at the couple.

"Want to play?" Laura looked up, resting her head on the vampire's bed while she looked up at her. She was not actually expecting any sort of response further than an eye-roll but she figured she was obligated to ask.

"Sure."

"Really?! Great!" Carmilla, for a moment, thought that she should be offended by her girlfriend's surprise but she settled on a smirk.

"Wait. No. Laura, this took forever we can't just-," an elbow from Perry changed LaFontaine's tune, "I mean wonderful. Awesome. The more the merrier, right?"

"Do you even know how to play?"

"If you're playing, it can't be that difficult, Xena." Danny glared while Carmilla's smirk widened.

"Alright! Great! So you need a character, Carm."

"Make me whatever you want, cupcake." The vampire grinned while Laura squealed and snatched up a piece of a paper. "Can I be a vampire?" Laura froze, pen hovering over her page. "What?"

"We're playing Doctor Who Dungeons and Dragons." Laura glared at LaFontatine while Carmilla valiantly fought off the urge to laugh.

"You can be a vampire. Mircalla the vampire." Said vampire groaned while Laura grinned, furiously scribbling down the new character.

"Hey! If she can be a vampire, why can't I be an elf?"

"Elven archer? Are you serious, Danny?"

"LaF, we're walking down a narrow corridor and the flashlight went out. You have no room to talk."

"There aren't any elves in Doctor Who!"

"Okay, that's not fair, how do we know? There's no way that in all of time and space there have never been any elves-"

"ALRIGHT! ENOUGH! Fine, Danny, you can be an elf." Danny grinned at Laura, who had looked up briefly to stop the argument they had already had half an hour prior from beginning again, but was busy staring down at Carmilla's character sheet, tongue between teeth.

"This is going to take forever."

"Good. Take the time to come up with some better scenarios."

"Are you challenging my authority as dungeon master?"

"Let's just all calm down and enjoy the pizza that Carmilla so generously brought." The dueling redheads simply stared at the Floor Don before shrugging and snagging pieces. Carmilla rolled her eyes at the trio while she played with her girlfriend's hair. Laura was furiously rolling and re-rolling the di while she filled in the numbers for Mircalla's attributes.

"Do you want a weapon?"

"The Blade of Hastur."

"This is a game, crushes on journalists, not real life and besides we don't have the stats on that."

"Fine, give me a sword or something."

"Why would a vampire need a sword?"

"Danny, your elf has a broadsword and a bow. That's ridiculous." Danny and LaFontaine were back to glowering at each other while Perry leapt up.

"I bet the brownies are done!" She hurried from the room, desperately hoping she would not return to an all-out brawl.

"Laura has a screwdriver."

"Hey! It's a _sonic _screwdriver and I'm The Doctor. The Doctor doesn't carry weapons." Laura paused in her nearly terrifyingly quick scribbling to defend her female incarnation of her favorite character.

"Laura, tell your girlfriend not to eat the dice."

"What?" The smallest of the party jerked her head, staring with mouth agape at Carmilla, the twelve sided dice nestled in her jaw behind her right canine.

"It looked…interesting."

"Do you put everything you find 'interesting' in your mouth?"

"Well, if we count Laura-"

"Oh my god shut up right now." Laura's face had turned a brilliant shade of red while Carmilla snickered, her eyes bright with mischief as Danny gagged and LaFontaine grinned like an idiot.

"Seriously though, Drac, what are you four? Spit the damn thing out." Carmilla did as commanded but launched the piece at Danny's head, the now slick di hitting her forehead dead center. The vampire's grin widened further when she realized that Laura had missed the entire exchange. "You are so dead."

"Ten points to Gryffindor." Danny's jaw went slack at the reference while Laura's head jerked up so she could beam at her girlfriend. Carmilla's cleverness earned her a kiss, which only frustrated the gangly redhead across from her.

"Nice one." LaFontaine held their fist out, grinning at the vampire. After a moment of consideration, Carmilla, surprisingly, returned the gesture.

"Seriously?"

"C'mon, Danny, that was a good one."

"Whatever." The trio sat in silence while Laura continued to write out the character sheet, Danny scowling while Carmilla played with the smaller girl's hair.

A twenty sided di flew across the room, hitting Carmilla's square in the eye.

"What the hell?"

"What is it, Carm?"

"Nothing, cupcake." Carmilla glowered over Laura's head while Danny smirked.

War erupted. Dice flew everywhere. Four sided dice. Six sided dice. Ten sided dice. Twelve sided dice. Every di they had gathered for the game was ammunition. The real casualty was the pizza, pieces pockmarked from constant impacts and littered with strange indentations. Perry returned with the brownies to find Carmilla, Danny, and LaFontaine streaked with pizza sauce and clutching their dice while Laura had retreated on to the vampire's bed, leaning against the wall while she worked on the now pointless character sheet. The other, now scattered, character sheets were beaten and torn from the trio's antics, stained with tomato sauce and grease. Even Perry's once pristine folder had been hit.

"Can't you all behave for more than five minutes?"

"Nope." Carmilla and Danny offered each other small smiles as they answered in unison.

"Holy crap, Perr. Those brownies are ginormous!" Everyone scrambled over to the Floor Don and her industrial size pan. The treats were truly gargantuan, all at least eight inches in height. They had been carved into humanoid figures."I'm a little worried. You're not trying to pull a Mama Claus are you?" LaFontaine chuckled while their best friend rolled their eyes. "Seriously though, what are they?"

"Well, they were supposed to be elves, all in the spirit of the game you know? But I couldn't get the ears quite right."

"They're huge! I bet one of them could take Laura down."

"Hey!" Laura glared at Danny while she picked up one of the massive brownies. "Well, I think they're cute." She fought off Carmilla as the vampire attempted to take a bite of her brownie. "They're giants! That's in the spirit of the game too, right?" She placated her girlfiend's desire for a taste with a kiss.

"Well, the spirit is all well and good but it looks like the game is a bust." They all winced as they took in the destruction.

"Speaking of elves, let's watch Lord of the Rings!"

"Oh my god, no, Danny, that will take all day."

"Oooh! Giants! Let's watch Harry Potter!" Everyone groaned.

"Why not Doctor Who?" Carmilla shrank a bit as everyone turned to gape at her. "What? It was Doctor Who whatever, right?" Laura beamed at her, offering her a leg of the mostly mangled brownie in her hand. She took it with a smile, pulling Laura closer with an arm around her waist. The remaining three looked at each other for a moment before shrugging.

"Danny, I swear to god if you ask 'is that an elf?!' one more time I will sic Carmilla on you."


	8. Stars

Carmilla grinned as she entered the room, finding Laura laying on the vampire's bed instead of her own, flipping through a book while popping pieces of candy into her mouth. She was entirely too cute. Before she knew what was going on, Laura found herself on her girlfriend's chest, her arms tight around her waist while she nuzzled her neck.

"Hey to you too." Carmilla smiled into her neck, pressing a light kiss behind her ear. Her fingers began to creep up Laura's shirt.

"What are you reading?"

"_Their Eyes Were Watching God_."

"Ah. The Harlem Renaissance."

"I thought you weren't…um…around then?"

"I was not but I discovered Hurston in a pile of books Maman gave me in an attempt to make amends for my punishment."

"Oh."

"It was a long time ago. Do you like the book?"

"I'm actually rereading it." Laura ducked her head a bit and blushed while Carmilla chuckled and pressed another kiss to her neck. They lay in silence for several minutes while Laura read, Carmilla content to hold her girlfriend, her wandering hands only mostly distracting. Her hands paused near Laura's chest when the smaller girl opened up another piece of candy.

"What are you eating?"

"Starburst."

"Are they related to that Alina girl?"

"What?"

"The Sun Summoner. Her symbol is the starburst, is it not?" Laura nearly choked while she laughed.

"You really need to stop pretending that you hate your e-reader. You clearly love the books I put on it."

"I love you, not the books." The comment earned the vampire a kiss.

"That's sweet but you still read an entire trilogy of 'childish cliché trash' as you put it."

"The Russian influence was interesting."

"And now you're defending it."

"Just tell me about the damn candy." Laura laughed and turned in Carmilla's arms to face her, placing her book down and throwing her arms around the vampire's neck after grabbing a handful of Starburst.

"Starburst. They're fruity and chewy."

"They're not shaped like a starburst or stars."

"It's because they burst with flavor."

"They're not even bright."

"Yes they are!"

"That one is purple, creampuff."

"Oh, shut up and eat one." Laura unwrapped an orange piece and popped it into the vampire's mouth. Carmilla looked offended for a moment before she reluctantly began to chew. "So, what did you think of the ending?"

"Of the candy?"

"No, of _Ruin and Rising_."

"It was alright. Certainly better than that Allegiant nonsense. I am upset that she lost her power. I was disappointed. I am more bothered, however, that she ended up with that dumb boy." She cringed when Laura squealed.

"I knew it! I knew it! You ship Alina and Nikolai!"

"Nikolai is my favorite character, yes, and I'd rather Alina have ended up with him. She would have been a queen! But what does 'ship' mean? Is this like those Snape/Ron fics you read?"

"I do not read Snape/Ron fics!" The vampire laughed while Laura hit her chest. "But yes. It is like that. If you ship them, you want them to get together."

"But what does any of that have to do with ships?"

"That's just what they're called."

"Yes, but why?"

"I don't know! Maybe because they have names and you name real ships?" She sighed at Carmilla's blank expression. "Ship names. Harmony is Harry and Hermione. Drarry is Draco and Harry. Our ship name is Hollstein."

"So you just smash names together?" Laura nodded. "And you all make fun of me for my anagrams. Wait. Why do we have a ship name?"

"The viewers."

"What?"

"The people who watch our videos. Some of them ship us and they came up with a ship name." Carmilla recalled a few usernames with Hollstein in it now that she thought about it.

"But we're already together."

"It just means that they like us together."

"Fine, yes, I ship Nikolai and Alina. What's their ridiculous ship name?"

"Nikolina."

"Oh, that actually sounds like a name."

"I think it's cute."

"Sure, buttercup." She reached for another Starburst.

"So you like them even though they have nothing to do with the books?"

"Yes. They're different." She ate a few more pieces. They made faces at each other while they ate the candy, pausing briefly to exchange short kisses. "I think they taste better on your lips."

"I think that's the corniest-" Carmilla shut her up with another kiss. "Okay, nevermind, we should always eat candy like this." The vampire smirked as their lips met again. The next Starburst had her cringing, however.

"Ugh."

"What's wrong?"

"It's all stuck in my teeth."

"Yeah, they do that. Can't really eat a lot of them."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It's all stuck behind my fangs." Laura laughed while the vampire attempted to work the sticky candy out of her teeth with her tongue. "I take back every good thing I said about this damn candy."

"Aww, Carm."

"I don't like having food stuck in my teeth."

"Finicky vampire."

"Why can't you eat normal candy?"

"And what's 'normal candy?'"

"Chocolate and peppermints."

"That's boring."

"You eat an entire package of chocolate chip cookies every day."

"Yeah and I like fruity candy too sometimes, that's why I got the Starburst. Which you have eaten half of and did not enjoy. Thanks for that."

"I'll buy you some real fruit."

"Ew. No thanks." Carmilla rolled her eyes and relaxed, finally managing to clean off most of her teeth.

"It really wouldn't hurt to add a bit more sustenance to your diet."

"Says the vampire."

"I eat what I'm supposed to."

"And my cookies."

"Only because they're your cookies. I eat them so you don't."

"Oh, right sure. Altruistic cookie eating vampire. Right."

"You wound me." Laura rolled her eyes and huffed, turning to rest on her back, but Carmilla stopped her, tightening her arms around her waist. She nipped at Laura's ear, grinning at the sound of her heart picking up. "There's a package of cookies in my bag for you."

"No way."

"Mhm." The vampire's lips trailed down her girlfriend's neck.

"You're the best."

"I know. Hey! Wait!" Laura had wriggled free of her grasp to run over to Carmilla's bag. "Did you just choose a package of cookies over me? Cookies I bought?" Laura rolled her eyes at the dramatic words, climbing back on to brunette, the cookies in hand.

"I thought we could try eating cookies like we ate the Starburst."

"Oh. Good idea, creampuff." They only managed to eat three cookies before they abandoned the game, their clothes joining the container on the floor. Carmilla liked the taste of chocolate even better on Laura's lips.

The vampire started bringing Starburst with her surprise cookies and grape soda and though she complained constantly of their annoying texture and strange shape, "They're not even shaped liked stars! What a foolish name," she ate nearly as many of them as Laura. Around Easter, she brought back a bag of Starburst Skittles by mistake.

"How do you get Starburst and Skittles confused?"

"I don't know! It says Starburst on there!"

"Wait. What? Oh my god, Carm. You got Starburst Skittles!" Carmilla had no idea why Laura was jumping around but she gladly accepted her grateful kiss. "These are the best!" The vampire quickly found herself agreeing. Starburst Skittles were much better than normal Starburst.

"But they're still not shaped like stars!"

"Stars aren't shaped like stars." Laura worried that she had broken her girlfriend with her exasperated comment, the vampire having sat in stunned silence for three minutes. She timed her.

"These are definitely closer to stars than those damn devil squares." When Carmilla crammed another handful of the Skittles into her mouth, Laura allowed herself to laugh. 


End file.
